Episode 42: Scorched Earth Policy

[Maria Zenovia]

"Zero Shell!" Maria shouts and raises another card in the air.
This time it is an ability that is alone considered a combo.
Hydra's body flashes and is completely clad in ice. Hydra emerges from the ice in form of a dark cloud and reforms into her monster form. That leaves a large ice sculpture that looks like Hydra. First effect of this ability just manifested. It creates an 'ice dummy' and transfers all received damage and ailments to it.
After that ice sculpture can be used as a weapon.
If one gets hit by sculpture's icicles when it explodes all damage done to Hydra will be added to regular damage from Zero Shell.
This means, the harder the hit on Hydra the higher the risk for Drago.


Hydra grabs her ice sculpture by its left arm and tosses it at Drago. With the force she sends it, sculpture goes quickly as hell to reach its mark. It takes some insane muscles and strength to be able to pull off something like this.


Ice sculpture explodes before reaching Drago and it scatters into countless icicles. Icicles start stabbing everything around the explosion site and are aiming for Drago.
Several smaller ones already hit Drago in his wings and legs, but the bigger ones are still to come and deliver the menacing punishment.


"Take haste, Hydra. The sooner they're out the sooner you'll be fed." Maria coldly commands to her Bakugan indirectly implying what is Hydra going to do to Noland and Drago if they lose. "Grrrrr...." Hydra growls angrily without forming a single word so far.

[Noland Hardy]

"What an attack..." Noland complimented in his mind. That was too good of an attack to not be impressed by it. Hopefully, it wouldn't be because of how much damage it's going to do to Drago if Maria has her way.

"Ability activate! Rage Fire!" Finding himself having to use a primarily offensive move for defensive purposes, Drago lit his tail on fire so he could slam it on the ground. Doing so produced a wave of fire that circled around him. A huge cloud of mist was created from the icicle shards melting on contact. This also applied to the ones already stuck to Drago, a feat that he would definitely be thankful for in the long run.

Drago shifted his wings to the bulkier set to increase his overall power across all attributes. In doing so, he sacrificed a bit of speed, but he needed to get in a comfortable position. Maria was not letting him do that just yet.

"So you want your Hydranoid to devour my power, huh? What else is new?" Noland irritably asked. That seemed to be the only thing these Hydranoid owners wanted nowadays.

[Maria Zenovia]

"Not only the power." Maria coldly giggles at Noland's response.
She takes another card and raises it. This time it is another Abyssal-class ability and it is pretty clear what happens when this kind comes into play.
"Ability activate! Abyssal Symphony!" Maria calls out.
This does not seem like a particularly threatening ability or even a powerful ability, but it definitely leaves a bad impression on everyone who witnesses it.


Hydra takes a deep breath and then makes an insanely-loud roar. She creates three sound waves with the three heads producing them.
Three waves unite into one and head towards Drago.
Hydra's roar cannot be heard anymore, but everyone can hear unsettling noises from the ability itself. It sounds like screams of thousands and thousands tortured Bakugans.
And it really is that.
Abyssal Symphony works in a way that it grows stronger by 2% every time Hydra kills an enemy (regardless if it is devoured or not) and considering how many Bakugans she has killed in her lifetime percentage must have exceeded far beyond 100%.
Also, this ability produces screams of all those Bakugans that got killed by Hydra; the sounds are more disturbing that the ability itself.


Sound wave immediately breaks the ceiling above Noland and Drago threatening to crush them both. If that is not enough, walls begin to crack and collapse as well.
And on top of that, massive sound wave still heads towards its targets to put their bodies under massive pressure and pop them like cherries. 

[Noland Hardy]

Noland and Drago each took a step back when Maria played this ability. They were too confused to move. It transitioned from her natural voice to something too unsettling to think about. If this was one of Maria's idea of lethal force, then Noland was going to be in for a long battle.

"Ability activate! Oppressive Air!" Heat radiated from Drago's body to change the field conditions. This was now a volcanic environment. Pillars of steam erupted from the ground regularly, a few being underneath and around Zero Hydranoid. Perhaps the most important detail was the scorching heat wave in the area. It contains special properties that boosts Drago's power akin to that of a character gate card.

This meant that he could provide some form of resistance to Zero Hydranoid's crushing ability, albeit with a few points of damage slipping through. The falling debris were lit on fire and crumbled up a bit so Drago could turn that into a weapon. Using his tail, he struck each fallen piece at a precise location so he could lob them over to Zero Hydranoid in an arc formation. These projectiles may as well be miniaturized meteors.

"Go on. Enlighten me. I'm eager to know what you're after by threatening to send me to the Doom Dimension."

[Maria Zenovia]

Maria takes another card from her pocket and activates it.
However, this time it is the Hellfire-class. It is something similar to Abyssal considering it focuses on a small number of opponents, but it also packs way more ailments that Abyssal for a small trade in power. It does not pack a punch as Abyssal, but once ailments are implemented it will give Drago something to think about.

"Ability activate! Hellfire Artillery!" Maria calls out.

Hydra takes a very threatening stance; she spreads her arms, legs and heads. Waves of blue flaming energy surround Hydra and being to make cracks in the ground.
Middle head faces Drago and its eyes blink in blue.
Suddenly, it opens its mouth and an ear-piercing sound occurs before a powerful blue beam is sent towards Drago to disintegrate him.
Left and right head remain idle for some reason; perhaps to control the blue waves around Hydra that disintegrate any debris or attack that comes in her way.
Beam coming towards Drago works very well against living tissue; it kills the cells of all it hits and makes that spot unable to heal. Therefore, if Drago gets impaled by this he can start digging his own grave right away.

"Originally, Hydra should feast on your bodies. She had not tasted a Dragonoid or a Gundalian in her lifetime." Maria sarcastically replies to what Noland said to her. "Doom Card is just to spice up things a tiny bit. Your daddy has been in there, so you can continue the family tradition. Except for the 'coming back' part." She says with a morbid pleasure in her voice at the feeling of watching Hydranoid chew on her enemies' bodies or them going insane once exposed to the 'wonders' of Doom Dimension.

[Noland Hardy]

Maria just pushed a button she shouldn't have pressed. Running her mouth was going to cost her big time. That ability he didn't want to use since he'd like to defeat Maria using his own power was about to be used. He had it in hand, and it was brimming in power.

"Ability activate!" Noland's eyes were fixed in a glaring stare as he declared the name. "Dimension Dweller!"

"Alright then..." Drago didn't want to use it either, but Noland called for it. It had to be done.

The ability given to him by Admiral Asuka was a space-time ability, an area Drago has some knowledge and skill in thanks to his Switch Code abilities. Drago charged forward like a tissue-eating attack wasn't going to collide with him. That was the kicker; it didn't. Zero Hydranoid's beam passed right through his being. This was due to Drago displacing his body into another dimension while remaining visible in the physical world.

In layman's terms...Zero Hydranoid could not hit Drago when this ability gets switched on. As a penalty, Drago could not attack Zero Hydranoid while he's displaced.

Drago dashed through to appear three yards behind her, and then returned to normal. He breathed a fire breath across all three heads, hoping to disrupt her attack process.

"Don't plan on expanding her palette. She won't be having anymore meals, something that your actual self would agree with," Noland promised.

[Maria Zenovia]

Maria's eyes widened after hearing that ability's name.
She could not have seen that coming from Noland; never ever she could have expected that HE would have Dimension Dweller or even activate it properly.
Hydra could not have expected this attack either; Drago got behind her and fired off an attack that was too fast and at range that is too close for Hydra to attempt to evade.
She got hit and nearly fell down, but managed to prevent that from happening by putting her left hand against the ground. She growls angrily at the outcome.

Noland has some powerful moves, but the definitely does not have this ability in his original arsenal. Only ones who have Dimension Dweller and its variations are two Lost Generals, Senpu and Ran, and Maria's colleague Admiral- Asuka Izumo. Noland never came in contact with either Senpu or Ran, so that only leaves... "ASUKA!!" Maria madly yells after seeing the outcome of that attack. "You red-headed whore!" She insults Asuka for giving Noland that kind of power in his hands.


She immediately takes another card knowing how the battle is going to go if she is not quick enough with using and executing abilities. Drago can switch between dimensions at will with this ability as long as he has energy and it does not really take much energy to execute it. Only other option is to negate that ability, but Hydra cannot negate space-time abilities without entering into Misfortune 13 that can 'eat away dimensions'. However, it is too early to enter Misfortune 13 and at this tiny space it could potentially be lethal for her as well.
Only chance she has now is to be able to detect Noland's attacks while Drago is in his 'real form' and hit him before he hits her. And if she manages to stun him only for a brief period she can chain another several abilities until Drago dies.


"Ability activate! Abyssal Ultima!" Maria calls out the ability.


Abyssal Ultima is an area-of-effect attack that hits every target within a certain radius. This can be used in a tiny space because it only affects living beings and passes through walls, metal and the rest without damaging it. Hydra roars intensely and her body flashes releasing blue blazes all around Hydra creating an 'orb' around her. 'Orb' begins to expand in all directions at quick rate leaving Drago a tiny bit of time to attempt to avoid.

"Cowardly tricks like those will not save you..." Maria angrily replies. It still troubles her at what happened and how Noland obtained the ability. If it was some other Bakugan, like Gorem or Hydranoid, it would be no problem since they are not quick enough to attack and evade before she executes her attack.

[Noland Hardy]

One thing Noland really wanted to NEVER do was abuse this gift Asuka had given him. It was powerful, but relying on outside help like this wasn't his style. He'd prefer to keep his use of it stable, just to keep Maria on her toes. It sounds like she is very aware of what this technique does.

"Cowardly? Right... Ability activate! Havoc Ignition!" Now the tables were turning. Maria's weaknesses were starting to show, and the deadly situation she has herself in was about to be revealed.

Drago shot two beams from his eyes that made contact with the expanding orb Zero Hydranoid planned to use. She would have to book other plans, because Drago was simply going to blow it up. Drago's eye beams making contact with Zero Hydranoid's attack caused it to explode. It was a very violent one, considering it was Zero Hydranoid using it. She was unlucky enough to be at the center of the explosion.

Drago was still on his guard, but he was not harmed by the blast. He displaced himself after triggering the explosion so he could not be damaged in the blast radius.

"You should have expected for someone like me to come prepared," Noland reminded her. "After all, how do you even have the right to complain about what I'm using when you put that abomination in the floor? If you activate a Doom Card, nothing is off limits, especially when you're dealing with me."

[Maria Zenovia]

"Doom Card works if one losses..." Maria says. "Dimension Dweller is just running away from hits like a little bitch." She insults as she takes another two cards.
This time she has another plan.
Another target, to be precise.
"Double Ability activate! Zero Arm plus Abyssal Mines!" Maria calls out their names.
Alana should be familiar with the 'Zero Arm' ability since Hydra used it against her Hydranoid.
As for Hydra's new target- Maria points her finger at Noland.


"THIS is how it looks when WE do it." Maria yells.


Against Noland's and Drago's expectations, Maria really did choose to target Noland instead of Drago. It seems that in this battle she does not care which one is killed as long as they're killed. Zero Arm ability that Maria called for first activates.
Blue, semi-transparent arm that looks like Hydra's emerges from the ground behind Noland and quickly grabs Noland lifting him up in the air.
Against Alana's Hydranoid this ability 'separated' his living essences from the body for a couple of seconds, but since Noland is not as tough as a giant Bakugan doing this to him would certainly result in death.
Second arm emerges from the ground and turns towards Noland. This one is supposed to grab his 'essences' while the first one keeps him still.


Just between the appearance of two arms Abyssal Mines activate. Hydra's body flashes and her energy is poured into the air. Large beautiful blue orbs that seem to be made of some glass-like structure appear all over the room and float in midair. Their purpose is to make sure, if Drago goes to save Noland, that they detonate and release abyssal energy that will terribly wound him and slow him down.  And if he does collide with one or gets too close for them to react and detonate he will not be able to come in time to reach Noland.


"I have not expected my dear Asuka to be so stupid to send a pawn to do queen's work. Very disappointing, but guess it is alright considering the prize we get for winning. Gundalian and Dragonoid steak with all the knowledge this organization has to offer in their archives." Maria sarcastically adds.

[Noland Hardy]

This was...unsettling to say the least. Noland didn't seem to show any signs of fear in Maria's blatant attempt to kill him. If she wasn't an enemy, he'd definitely be scared, because he wouldn't have expected her to go this far.

"I can only imagine what this is if me having that ability is so bad," Noland retorted. "Drago, Nova Sentry! Double time!"

"You got it!" Drago obeyed. He released two Chinese dragons from his body. One was designated to Noland while the other was for Drago.

Noland's Nova Sentry zipped through the Zero Arms to absorb their power. Noland then dropped to the floor to see Drago address the explosive ordinance that was about to blow them up. That's where Drago's Nova Sentry came in handy. It revolved around him as the explosions went off, allowing him to continuously absorb power from the individual hits he would have received.

"Even pawns can become the most powerful pieces if used correctly. And don't forget...they can take queen's down too," Noland added, narrowly looking at Maria when he made his next comment, "including you."

[Maria Zenovia]

"Aww... I am so flattered you think I am a queen." Maria responds sarcastically to what Noland said to her. Her plan to kill Noland and hurt Drago in the process certainly failed, but it opened a door to another opportunity.
Hydra has been controlling those arms, but did not physically have to do anything so she is still completely free and ready to attack while Drago is doing his tricks to assist Noland and absorb the power.
Maria takes another card and immediately plays it not to lose any time.

"Ability activate! Abyssal Berserker!" She calls out.

Hydra's eyes flash in red and she makes a step forward to Drago.
She was given incredible speed with this ability and with seemingly just one step she appears in front of Drago.
She grabs him by his left hand and thrusts before smashing him against the ground. She then repeats the process with the ground and walls several times before finally showing the true nature of Abyssal Berserker.

She smashes Drago against the ground and jumps on him. She then starts punching him in the face, neck and chest. Given amazing speed from Abyssal Berserker her punches count up to 10 per second massing up damage and absorbing Drago's health.
However, this is the first attack she landed in the last couple of minutes so it cannot restore as much as Drago inflicted during that period; she will need to punch for a longer period or chain up a few abilities with definitive hits.

"Grrrr!!!" Hydra growls. Suddenly, she pauses one of her punches. Her arms suddenly begin to shake for some reason... almost like she is uncertain about what is going on. However, that quickly ends and she begins hitting again.

[Noland Hardy]

This move confirmed Maria knew how to counter Dimension Dweller. She managed to attack faster than Drago could respond. The slight pause gave the Nova Sentry time to readjust, so now they were in position to help Drago out before things get way too out of hand.

"Is that all you've got?" Drago asked in a provocative manner. The two Nova Sentry had their eyes flash when they turned to look at Drago. The same look appeared in Drago's eyes too. Suddenly, he started dodging the punches aimed towards his neck and face. Of course, since she was on top of him, he couldn't just move his chest out of the way, unless he was Gargulion. The Nova Sentry came in handy once more by binding themselves to Zero Hydranoid's arms to hold her punches back temporarily.

"Solid recovery, Drago. Now, ability activate! Novia Charge!" The most lethal line of abilities Drago has lies in this tier, and what the Nova Sentry were about to do would show why that's the case.

The Nova Sentry being on both sides of Zero Hydranoid gave them the option to revolve around her just as they would Drago, except that it would not be for absorption purposes. What they would do is grind against her body throughout each revolution until she's reduced to pieces. The gleaming of red energy coming from the Nova Sentry could either be Drago's energy, Zero Hydranoid's blood, or maybe both.

Drago used this chance to scurry away back to his side of the field in hopes that he would be ready for anything new. "Hydranoid was right...she is strong...very strong..."

"I saw your Hydranoid pause just now, Maria. I know you don't want to do this. You're being played by the machine," Noland noticed. "I know you're strong. Fight through it. It's not too late for you to stop. Please."

[Maria Zenovia]

Hydra's action of hesitation provokes Maria a tiny bit.
It appears Hydra has not been completely taken over; that could be because she had just recently turned and her willpower is still burning in resistance towards it. However, she cannot maintain that resistance for too long considering her stamina will progressively drop through the battle.
Despite this fact Maria does not want to risk Hydra accidentally breaking the control and doing something against the main plan, so she should kill both Noland and Drago before Hydra manages to find a way to break it.

"You're still struggling...? Not for long." Maria comments and then takes a pitch-black card with symbol 'M13' on it written in bloody-red letters. She raises the card and dark cloud surrounds the card. "No more games!! Misfortune 13!!" Maria yells and card, literally, explodes in her hand activating the transformation.

Bloody-red mist surrounds Hydra until she is completely cloaked in it. Numerous flashes begin to appear in the mist. Suddenly mist disappears revealing a small cloud of bloody-red essence where Hydra was standing. Something from the inside of the cloud cuts it and creates an opening. Numerous eyes begin to appear inside the cloud.
Without any announcement a gigantic head emerges from the cloud. And then another one. And another... until there are 13 heads revealed.
The rest of the body emerges as well and reveals large Excedra-like Bakugan- Hydra's transformation, Misfortune 13.

Glowing eyes switch between blue and red. Red probably showing the Hurranian force in control and blue representing Hydra's resistance. Hydra roars madly and Maria is not pleased by the situation... "Transformation actually... reduced Hurranian influence...??" Maria notices in unpleasant surprise seeing more signs of Hydra's resistance now. "I need to finish this quickly..."

"Stop? I don't have time or crayons to explain you- I do not have intentions to stop." Maria angrily replies to what Noland said.
Hurranians' control is obviously stronger with Maria than Hydra. Not that Maria has much power to actually resist Hurranians' influence. Hydra's willpower and strength are far too high to let some parasite just completely take her over like it is nothing.

"Ability activate! Eternal Devourer!" Maria takes another black card with all the info of it written in bloody-red. It is Devourer-class card; unique class to Excedra Bakugans. No other Bakugan race can learn it; certain Hydranoids who have not evolved/transformed to Excedra may be able to. These types of abilities have 20% more life-steal effect applied to them and, despite their simple-looking nature, they do far more damage than Hydra's strongest abilities in her normal form.

All thirteen heads roar intensely and exhale dark-purple smoke. Smoke spreads all around Hydra making it nearly impossible to see gigantic Bakugan.
After spreading, smoke violently hurls at Drago. It wraps Drago up and makes him unable to move; like he is being held by chains and not smoke. Not long after being trapped he begins feeling unbearable pain all over his body as red Pyrus essence begins to leave his body in form of light particles. Pyrus essences is quickly being devoured and transferred to Hydra's firepower and health.
A very unusual ability; smoke that devours its victim. Very strange.

"I was not joking about you being eaten." Maria says sarcastically as the process goes. However, she is filled with uncertainty at the thought that Hydra might actually overcome the infection if this battles goes on for any longer. If that happens battle is lost since Hydra can effortlessly take down Clade at that point.

[Noland Hardy]

"So that's what that is... Oh shit..." Noland thought in disbelief. "No second thoughts about using this..."

Noland got the ability out without any shame. At any point where an Excedra pops up out of nowhere, you better use what you have. "Well then...I guess I'll just have to force you to stop. Luckily for me, I wasn't joking about taking you down either," Noland prefaced before unveiling the ability in between his right index and middle finger. "Ability activate! Free of Regression!"

This is the second ability Admiral Asuka lent to Noland, and it was one that was going to put Maria into the ground. A white essence left Drago's mouth. It left on its own to seek Zero Hydranoid on its own. Finding her was not an issue at all, and once it did, it entered her body.

This is where the magic happens...

All of the smoke dispersed into tiny particles, dropping Drago on the floor. Due to his Pyrus energy being eaten, the Switch Code's defensive parameters kicked in to restore that functionality, as well as give him a hint of the form's healing factor. Zero Hydranoid wasn't given that much care, because Free of Regression actually forces the victim to violently cancel their heightened states by using their own energy to do so.

"You know what...? I'm still young, but...I'm getting too old for this," Drago complained about fighting in general. "You brawlers just stand there all comfy while we get beat up all the time...I want to switch roles one of these days..."

Zero Hydranoid's energy fluctuated until she reverted back to her base form, left without any means of reentering that horrible form again. To Noland's surprise, the ability took it a step further by reducing Zero Hydranoid all the way down to her non-evolutionary state. "How about now?" Noland wondered since Zero Hydranoid was technically cornered and in the perfect position to be defeated. Drago got back up and charged a fireball in his mouth in an attempt to finish her off.

[Maria Zenovia]

That ability came to Maria as a huge shock.
First Dimension Dweller, which was already overpowered enough.
And now... Free of Regression... it was the ultimate trickery and trump card they could have played on Maria right now. "Are you... kidding me...!?" Maria yells as she sees FoR do its horrible effect on Misfortune 13. She continues to mumble curses silently at the situation knowing what is going to happen.
Hydra was returned to her base form and not the 'Zero Hydranoid' base... She was returned to her very first form before any evolution or transformation in her life took place... Frost Hydranoid.
Even as a mere copy of Ran's Free of Regression, this ability proves to be annoying. Only plus here is that this copy is not permanent- should keep Hydra in that state for a couple of minutes before reverting her to 'Zero Hydranoid'.
Even then... it is doubtful she can enter Misfortune 13 then. This degradation expelled all power from her forms before the non-evolutionary stage, so even when Hydra returns to her 'Zero' form her strength will not lift up much from the Frost Hydranoid state.
Only wait to regain her strength is by resting, but it is doubtful Drago will sit and wait for it to happen.


"Asuka... you did it again... CURSE YOU!!" Maria yells cursing at her colleague who played yet another trick on her and made her lose a brawl against someone she could have chewed up and spat out. "Curse you all..." She mumbles.


"I don't care... I don't give a damn. GET UP!! KILL THEM BOTH!" She insanely yells despite all the humiliation and obvious disadvantage she cannot make up for with any ability for Freeze Hydranoid. Infected Hydra picks herself up and faces Drago who could swipe her off the battlefield with the little finger now...
She makes slow steps forward to reach Drago, but she becomes slower with every step and eventually stops. Her body begins to shake and hit things uncontrollably.
She begins crushing the walls, computers and everything in her reach.
Left fist goes after Drago only to be stopped by the right fist. "Grrrr!!" Hydra growls, obviously trying to stop herself from harming him anymore.
Hydra clings to the wall and begins smashing her own head against it; like she is trying to beat Hurranians out of control.

Strangely enough, Hurranians' influence seems to have grown weaker when Hydra went down to Freeze Hydranoid...
Free of Regression ability must have interfered with Hurranians' controls over Hydra and made them unable to successfully control her anymore into attacking. Perhaps Hurranians inside her were damaged by the ability or were somehow weakened.